Yee-haw! Emmy-nominated actress Lena Headey is trading her seat on the Iron Throne for a pair of boots and some spurs in a new Western series called The Abandons. The mind behind Sons of Anarchy, Kurt Sutter, is back at the helm, whisking us away to 1850s Oregon. There, a group of tenacious families wrestles with their dreams of Manifest Destiny, all while fending off the greedy, power-hungry forces that want their land.
Headey, who previously portrayed Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, steps into the boots of Fiona, a tough-as-nails matriarch with an iron will. Unable to have kids of her own, Fiona embraces her role as the adoptive mom of four orphans. With unshakable faith and a fiery Irish temper, she's the ultimate mama bear, ready to defend her family at any cost.
The Abandons marks Sutter's return to TV after getting the boot from the Sons of Anarchy spinoff Mayans MC in 2019 — turns out he was a bit of an "abrasive" presence on set. Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone's creator and showrunner — and who had a stint in Sons of Anarchy — won't be part of this project. Instead, Sutter will be the showrunner for The Abandons, teaming up with executive producers Stephen Surjik and Otto Bathurst, who'll also be directing episodes, and Emmy Grinwis.
Sutter first discussed The Abandons back in November 2021, telling Deadline what he planned to do with the show.
"I've always wanted to do a Western, even before Sons, and then Deadwood came out," he said. "There's that great lore of Ian Anderson wanting to be a great rock guitarist, and he saw Clapton play, and he said, 'F*ck, I'm going to become the best rock flautist that ever lived.' And he did just that for Jethro Tull. This is how I felt when I saw Deadwood. I said, 'Let me stick to the crime genre' and then used just about every actor that was on that show. But I do love the genre, and over the pandemic, I tried to get a Western IP."
Headey has had quite the full plate recently, too. In addition to The Abandons, she's also starring in White House Plumbers, in which she plays Dorothy Hunt, wife of Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson). She's also on board for Spectrum and AMC's sci-fi drama Beacon 23.
So grab your cowboy boots and saddle up for a journey to the untamed frontier of 1850s Oregon. With Headey's Fiona leading the charge, The Abandons is sure to be an unforgettable ride.
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